West House Cottage – at the rear of Penarth Town Council’s offices – is the base for “Crossroads in the Vale”

The Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) has found that less than half the staff of “Crossroads in the Vale Ltd” – the Penarth-based organisationwhich provides personal care to adults with dementia care needs – have training in dealing with dementia patients.

The latest CIW report says that “People cannot always feel confident in the care they receive because not all staff may be competent and confident meeting their particular needs. This is because some staff have not been provided with dementia training.”

The report goes on to say that “Records showed that less than half of the staff were provided with this training. This may mean that some staff are not competent at delivering dementia care, though on the day of the inspection we did not see any direct evidence of this. As the service specialises in providing support for people with dementia care needs, it is crucial that all staff are trained in this area.”

On the positive side Crossroads in the Vale is reported to have accessed funds to enable it to set up “a weekly men’s group” in which staff accompany dementia patients on visits to local pubs or to play skittles. Crossroads in the Vale also runs its own day-care centre to provide activities and company for the people they support.

Criticisms made of the organisation in last year’s inspection have now been put right [ Last year inspectors had found there was a need to improve the audit of medication records completed by staff – and to ensure staff were alerted to any potential missed or late calls to at weekends or evenings. ] Inspectors found in the latest inspection that “a robust system had been established to audit medication administration records”

In addition CIW inspectors found that now:-

the number of qualified staff exceeds the national training target

the statement of purpose and guide to the service has been improved

a system is in place to alert staff to any missed or late weekend or evening calls

a new software system enables constant monitoring regarding the ratio of staff to
people receiving a service

a laptop had been purchased to improve record keeping and timely action in
relation to any issues raised by staff about individuals the operations manager was analysing information to ensure staff made good use of their time and focussed on the priorities which benefited people having a service.

However, the CIW report is now recommending that:-

All Crossroads in the Vale staff should be provided with dementia training or refresher training and at the right level to enable them to support people to manage any distressing behaviour.

Allocating staff to people should take account of the level of dementia care needed; allocating the most appropriate staff to people with dementia who are having
difficulty communicating in their first language.

Where clients have capacity, they should be encouraged to sign key documents to
evidence their agreement to and involvement in plans concerning their care and
support

A survey reported that 93% of people who are being cared for “felt their dignity was preserved” and that they were respected. The report says “People were happy with how staff treated them”

CIW inspectors also found that all staff had received a range of other training that was appropriate to their work and up to date. Feedback from the satisfaction survey showed that 89% of people and 100% of health professionals felt that staff were knowledgeable and competent.

Family members commented, “Crossroads, due to their specialist training are able to meet mum’s needs;” “Super staff, well-chosen and trained.” (59% of staff were appropriately qualified, which exceeded the national training target.)

UPDATE: After the publication of the CIW report, Crossroads in the Vale said the organisation had challenged the findings of the CIW inspectors.

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Penarth Daily News is an independent free on-line fair and balanced news service published by NewsNet Ltd covering the town of Penarth in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, UK.
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6 Responses to LESS THAN HALF OF “CROSSROADS IN THE VALE” STAFF HAVE DEMENTIA TRAINING

On the 14 Feb 18 The Health Minister Vaughan Gething. launched the Dementia Wales Action Plan.and announced an extra 10 million pounds across all local authorities to improve.care delivery and education for Social Care in this.sector
The Vale of Glamorgan show their contempt by not publishing a press release response and explain why they continue to overburden their hardworking outsourcing quango- so called charity- Crossroads. Thus the Vale are neatly avoiding theIr “staff training” and “Dementia Care ” responsibility.
Given the extremely high age profile of the All Male Cowbridge biased Cabinet I would have thought this was reckless, dangerous behaviour for themselves
I warn you don’t ever be old and don’t let any of your loved ones get Dementia- not in the Vale of Glamorgan

In response to the above article concerning Crossroads Care. When the inspection report was sent it was challenged by us. All of our staff receive dementia training when they first arrive at Crossroads as part of their induction, no-one is sent into the community to look after our clients without essential dementia training. There is additional training that our staff receive which is outsourced and recorded separately. The spread sheet that the inspector looked at unfortunately did not have the information related to dementia training as it is on the staff’s induction file. The manager was on annual leave on the day of the inspection as this would have been addressed at the time. All of our staff are selected so they are compatible and able to meet the needs of the client.
Our clients are very longstanding and so are our staff. They provide specialist care by experience and ongoing training in dementia and other essential areas. If you look at the article half way down it states the positives of Crossroads. It is just such a shame that the headline is misleading.

The PDN item headline is NOT misleading. We have reported what is stated in the official report by the Care Inspectorate Wales. As you have challenged the CIW report we will add that point to the item. The CIW would have had the opportunity to amend its report prior to publication – in the light of the challenge which we now understand has been made by Crossroads Care – but it did not do so.

I have always found Crossroads brilliant in what they do.They have been there consistently for years. I have the highest respect for them.
There is a great need for more and better dementia skills, liaison and understanding care provision in Llandough Hospital.
One thing that should immediately be given to the doctors, nurses and healthcare assistants is more time to spend with their patients.
We need to enable the many not the few to provide consistent high quality humane care.

Some good news ON THIS TOPIC from Age Cymru in association with YEAH YEAH THEATRE
FREE Theatre and movement workshops for persons of ages 50+ at the PENARTH PIER
Dates: 2nd, 4th, 9th, 11th & 16th May 2018
Times: 10am to 12 noon
Location: Penarth Pier Pavilion
Cost: Free of charge
The work created during sessions culminates in a performance on Penarth Pier at 11am on 16th May 2018
Contact: Mr MORGAN THOMAS yeahyeahtheatre@gmail.com
If of interest, please feel very welcome to come along. Alternatively if you know of persons that might be interested, we’d much appreciate it if you can share this post please, thank you.
This project is supported by Age Cymru’s Gwyl Gwanwyn Festival, Wales’ national festival celebrating creativity in older age.